Pay My Fine, Restitution, or Assessment

Making Payments

If your Judgment in a Criminal Case required you to pay a fine, restitution, and/or Crime Victim’s Fund assessment, you have likely already signed a payment schedule with your U.S. Probation Officer.

The U.S. Probation Office does not accept these payments. You must make your payment to the Clerk of the Court’s Office. Payments may be made in person or by mail.

The Clerk’s Office will not accept cash. Cashier’s check, money order or personal check should be made payable to: Clerk, U.S. District Court.

Returned Checks

If a check submitted by a defendant is returned for Non-Sufficient Funds (NSF), also referred to as "bounced", the Court will assess a NSF fee. A letter is sent to the payer and the U.S. Attorney's Office. The NSF fee, as well as the original payment, must be made "good" or will be subject to prosecution by the U.S. Attorney's Office. If a party submits multiple bad checks, only cashier's checks or money orders may be accepted for future payments. When submitting the NSF fee, please note on the face of the check that a portion of the payment is for the NSF fee so it may be applied correctly to the outstanding criminal debt.

Wage Garnishment

Garnishments are initiated by the Financial Litigation Unit (FLU) of the U.S. Attorney’s Office on a case by case basis, often based on probation officer recommendations and the delinquency status of the debt. If a person on supervision is working, their wages are subject to garnishment for payment of their criminal debt. Pursuant to 15 U.S.C. Section 1673, wages can be garnished up to 25% of disposable wages or the amount by which the weekly disposable earnings exceed thirty times the Federal minimum hourly wage, whichever is less. If the employer is the victim and they are retaining the funds to apply towards the debt, it is the defendant's obligation to either notify or have the employer notify the FLU or Finance, who will obtain confirmation from the victim, and subsequently apply these payments to the defendant's outstanding debt.

Via the Bureau of Prisons (BOP)

If a defendant is to be incarcerated, they will participate in the Inmate Financial Responsibility Program through the Bureau of Prisons. The BOP will deduct funds from their prison account on a monthly or quarterly basis and will forward these funds to the Court for application to their outstanding criminal debt.

Via the Treasury Offset Program (TOP)

The Treasury Offset Program is a means for the Court to collect payments by offsetting any payments the defendant may receive from the U.S. Treasury, including, but not limited to, tax refunds, tax incentive checks, social security, disability, civil service retirement, etc. Funds collected are forwarded to the Court and applied to the defendant's outstanding criminal debt.

Payments made toward a criminal debt are applied in the following order:

1. Special Penalty Assessments
2. Restitution principal and interest
   1. Non-federal, non-insurance companies
   2. Insurance companies
   3. Federal agencies
3. Fine principal and interest
4. Penalties
5. Costs of Prosecution

Payments made by defendants in joint and several cases are applied on a pro-rata basis to the joint debt and any individual debt based on the priority of payments.

Defendants are liable for the entire joint and several debt listed in their judgment, even if the codefendants are not making any payments.

Interest is assessed on restitution and fines of more than $2,500, unless it is waived by order of the Court or the debt is paid in full before the fifteenth day after the date of judgment.